Georgia Makes Solo Bid For Euro 2020

Georgia says it is making a solo bid to host the European soccer championships in 2020, abandoning previous plans for a joint application with Azerbaijan.

Georgian Sports Minister Vladimer Vardzelashvili said on May 15 that Georgia was applying independently since Azerbaijan had asked to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.

The small and impoverished ex-Soviet state has a limited soccer infrastructure, but Vardzelashvili said the authorities were already refurbishing stadiums in Tbilisi and planned to build a state-of-the-art new stadium in Batumi.

Europe's soccer governing body, UEFA, has said it will choose the winning bid in late 2013 or early 2014.